The Bauer College of Business is constantly improving its curriculum, and now the college has been recognized for its efforts, UH officials said.
The college is the 49th top public undergraduate business school in the country from BusinessWeek’s 2007 rankings.
The college ranks 85th of 93 public and private business schools selected, a distinction which Chester Jacinto, director of Communications at Bauer, said is no small feat.
"This is quite significant when you consider that there are more than 1,700 business schools in the U.S.," he said. "Only 93 made BusinessWeek’s list."
The annual issue, which was released in March, takes a multitude of factors into consideration when compiling the ranking, including student recruiter surveys, starting salaries of business school graduates, SAT and ACT scores and average sizes of the classes.
According to BusinessWeek’s 2007 undergraduate profile, Bauer received honorable mention in several of these categories, boasting an average SAT score of 1166 and ACT score of 25 for full-time entering business students. In addition, 60 percent of entering business students graduated in the top 25 percent of their high school class.
Classes with fewer than 20 students make up 24 percent of all classes at Bauer, the report said.†Classes that accommodate 21 to 50 students account for 41 percent, while only 35 percent of classes have more than 50 students.
"The ranking helps boost the University of Houston and Bauer’s reputation and stature," Jacinto said. "It reflects the academic excellence and performance of our faculty and students."
Arthur Warga, dean of the college, said that Bauer has not been recognized in the past because many previous improvements are now beginning to be recognized.
For instance, in August 2004 the college received a $40 million endowment from Houston businessman and philanthropist Charles T. Bauer.
"Ted Bauer’s gift enabled us to hire more faculty, which has helped our students obtain the kinds of jobs they deserved," Warga said. "There’s always a bit of a lag between the time we receive aid and when the results of that aid are seen."
In its report card, BusinessWeek criticized the Bauer College for what it called a lack of business experience in some of the college faculty. Warga disagreed, stating that students and administrators can be confident of every Bauer faculty member.
"It’s rather silly. We could speak for weeks about the experience of our faculty," he said.
Dennis Adams, chair of the Decision and Information Services Department at Bauer, said that one of Bauer’s best assets are the students.
"Fantastic students make up our population here. We wouldn’t be ranked where we are without them," he said. "The question is, how we can continue this momentum we’ve gained by attracting more great students? They represent opportunity."
Marketing junior Venetta Rich said that for the price that students pay for their education, instruction could be improved.
"I feel that Bauer has a lot of really good instructors, but on the other hand there are some others who don’t seem to be able to transfer their knowledge (to students)," she said. "Some just aren’t successful at delivering their message."
Bauer College is in the process of addressing problems that Warga said he believes will help the school achieve a higher rank next year.
"One of our biggest issues is space. We are space-constrained," he said. "We’re looking to address that in the future with a new building project. Students will have more positive things to say about the college soon."
Pre-business sophomore Morgan Parker said that Melcher Hall stands out as a testament to the college’s success.
"I love the building. I think it’s an awesome area," she said. "I just think that not enough students outside of Bauer know what the business school is all about."
Parker said the college should make a better effort to advertise itself beyond Melcher Hall.
"I know they have lots of bake sale kinds of things inside the school to raise money for its organizations, but I don’t think Bauer has enough promotions outside of the school," she said. "They could offer more scholarships to get a competitive edge and attract students."
The full list of top 50 undergraduate business schools can be viewed at www.businessweek.com/bschools
